Good news for people who like good news

The cathedral’s dean, the Very Rev. Gary Hall, told the AP, “I read the Bible as seriously as fundamentalists do. And my reading of the Bible leads me to want to do this because I think it’s being faithful to the kind of community that Jesus would have us be.”

(Note: The cathedral is the seat of the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and its Washington diocese. Despite the “National” moniker, it does not have any official “national” status. This is America, a nation, not a church. We don’t have official government cathedrals.)

At Park Community Church’s 11 a.m. service on the Near North Side, ushers doled out envelopes filled varying amounts of cash with church members instructed to put the nearly $12,000 to work in what the Tribune called “the corners of the community where they think it will do the most good.”

Most of the envelopes had a few dollars inside, while others had more than $100, according to Fox Chicago.

• “Nearly everything I have stood for these past 35 years went down to defeat,” … said James Dobson. (This would be even better news if not for that “nearly.”)

Who’s Dave? I suspect heirs are more competent to handle inherited wealth than the government (though this is only a suspicion, not a solid, evidence-based assertion).

EllieMurasaki

That was a ‘how would YOU like to have chicken shit in your chicken cordon bleu’. Because that is a thing that happens when the chicken industry is not subject to strict food safety regulations.

AnonaMiss

Oops, misremembered who it was somehow. I meant Sgt Pepper.

Also, you’re demonstrating right there that you don’t believe what you said about libertarianism. If you really believed the important thing was financial non-aggression, the concern of who is more competent to handle the money would pale in comparison to “Oh man, that would be a way of funding the essential functions of government without taking anyone’s money away!” Or possibly an objection based on rightful ownership or harm or something.

Instead, once the idea of the government having any money comes up, it’s “government is incompetent.” “Government is less competent than Paris Hilton,” even.

You pretty much just owned yourself right there.

http://againstjebelallawz.wordpress.com/ Enopoletus Harding

[Ahem.]

All libertarians support the rights of life, liberty, and property (though they may justify them in different ways; Mises, for example, was a staunch opponent of Natural Rights theory and justified his libertarianism based on utilitarianism).

AnonaMiss

What would you consider a better way of funding government than taking money from the dead, then? Since you’ve made noises towards the idea that taking money from the living is an aggression against them. From a utilitarian standpoint, then, it should do less harm to take money from the dead than to take it from the living.

Assuming you really are a libertarian and do see the need for some amount of government, instead of being just an anarchist who sees and is totally OK with the power imbalances inherent in anarchy.

Also, are you seriously claiming to be a utilitarian? A utilitarian who wants to gut medicare & social security? Pull the other one.

http://againstjebelallawz.wordpress.com/ Enopoletus Harding

This is partially why I do not count myself as a libertarian. In cases such as these, bureaucrats can do better than the free market.

Maybe your statement that “is a thing that happens when the chicken industry is not subject to strict food safety regulations” is true, but intrusive searches of property without a search warrant and the penalizing of unsanitary food-processing conditions are still examples of aggression, by the libertarian definition of “aggression”.

EllieMurasaki

And what, pray tell, is “the libertarian definition of ‘aggression’”, and why does it exclude ‘stealing money from the poor through incredibly high interest rates on short-term loans’?

P J Evans

Why shouldn’t ‘unsanitary food procession conditions’ be subject to a penalty? It’s endangering the public health, which is EVERYONE who comes in contact with the contaminated food. If you really want people to respect your opinions, stop being a beckwit.

http://againstjebelallawz.wordpress.com/ Enopoletus Harding

[Ahem].

This is partially why I do not count myself as a libertarian. In cases such as these, bureaucrats can do better than the free market.

Was the above not pretty clear I am in agreement with you on this issue?

http://againstjebelallawz.wordpress.com/ Enopoletus Harding

http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Aggression If a poor person has agreed to pay high interest payments to a creditor, that creditor has the right to demand payments from the poor debtor. Otherwise, the poor debtor is guilty of fraud.

EllieMurasaki

If only physical force counts, then why is it aggressive for the poor person to fail to make payments? Whatever aggression means, why is it not aggressive for the creditor to set the terms unpayably high?

EllieMurasaki

Wait wait wait. From that mises.org link:

“Note that communication requires the initiation of force to gain access to another persons sensory organs.”

Communication is inherently aggressive? What the FUCK.

http://againstjebelallawz.wordpress.com/ Enopoletus Harding

I have learned a lesson from this: never link to wikis.

EllieMurasaki

The most recent change on that wiki page was July 2012, so your point can’t possibly be that somebody maliciously snuck in false information and I saw it before you did. So what is your point?